County to make e-voting transition with grant

Wednesday

Jun 12, 2013 at 3:05 PMJun 12, 2013 at 3:08 PM

The Arkansas Secretary of State has presented the county with a $10,732 grant for electronic poll books. The funds were appropriated Tuesday morning at the Arkansas County Quorum Court meeting in DeWitt.

Sarah Morrissmorris@stuttgartdailyleader.com

By 2014, Arkansas County voters could be signing in to vote electronically.

The Arkansas Secretary of State has presented the county with a $10,732 grant for electronic poll books. The funds were appropriated Tuesday morning at the Arkansas County Quorum Court meeting in DeWitt.

County Clerk Melissa Wood said her office would be purchasing EA Tablets in the near future. It’s in the early stages, but she hopes to have the tablets in place by the 2014 election.

According to an EA Tablet information sheet, the tablets scan driver licenses or voter ID cards, allow searches by last name, first name, date of birth and/or voter ID number manually. It also collects, saves and archives signature pages along with voter history while continuously completing a real-time backup of voter history to a micro SD card.

County Judge Glenn “Sonny” Cox said it’s a good thing since poll workers will no longer have to fiddle with books searching for names. Voters can sign as they do with credit cards and will now be able to vote anywhere in the county on election day.

The largest advantage would be in reducing voter fraud. Deputy Prosecutor Elizabeth Skinner said the electronic voting would link all of the state’s polling locations together through a state database. Once a voter places a ballot in one location, poll workers will know they already voted if the voter goes to a second location.

The Stuttgart and DeWitt courthouses and the DeWitt District Court have also received a $13,254 court security grant. Cox said they plan to purchase a 16-channel DVR for each location and slowly add cameras as needed. About eight cameras would be tentatively set up at the courthouses to begin.

The 24-hour, motion-sensor system would help monitor the entrances and exits of the court facilities along with the courtrooms and other court offices. Last month, Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Coordinator Shanda Harris said the Stuttgart District Court opted out of the grant application due to a remodel of the Stuttgart Police Station and Stuttgart District Court that will start this year.

Cox said it’s the third phase to upgrading their security. Officials have previously installed deadbolt locks and panic buttons.

In other business, Treasurer Charles A. Horton said the county general has $390,727, about $115,000 more than this time last year. It’s a trend he said continues through the county’s other accounts.

Sheriff Allen Cheek and Jail Administrator Robbie Fread have been asked to attend the joint meeting of the budget and finance committee and the government affairs and elected officials committee at 8:30 a.m. prior to the July 9 quorum court meeting.

The request follows the recent release of the compliance reports for the Arkansas County Detention Center and the Arkansas County Juvenile Detention Center, which had commented the adult jail needed a good house cleaning.

Fread said the jail has 58 inmates, of which 40 are male. The juvenile jail has three male inmates.

Justices of the Peace have also called for a resolution to oppose the White River and its watershed being designated the second National Blueway until they receive more information on what it would mean to the county and the landowners in the affected area.